Spatial structure in the “Plastisphere”: Molecular resources for imaging microscopic communities on plastic marine debris

Schlundt, Cathleen; Welch, Jessica L. Mark; Knochel, Anna M.; Zettler, Erik R.; Amaral‐Zettler, Linda

doi:10.1111/1755-0998.13119

Cited by 84 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The spatial distribution of microorganisms in microplastic biofilms, as in other biofilms, is generally not random or homogeneous. Heterogeneous bacterial communities were observed around phytoplankton and bryozoan structures, which may be due to associations arising from the preferential attraction of bacteria to exuded organic matter and other nutrients by phytoplankton and hydrodynamic effects caused by the shape and structure of surface layers (Schlundt et al 2019 ). Exopolysaccharides were found to play an important role in the formation of hetero-aggregates between microalgae and microplastics (Lagarde et al 2016 ).…”

Section: Microbial Communities Of Microplastic Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exopolysaccharides were found to play an important role in the formation of hetero-aggregates between microalgae and microplastics (Lagarde et al 2016 ). However, microbe-microbe and microbe-substratum interactions in microplastic biofilms and their environmental significance remain largely unknown (Amaral-Zettler et al 2020 ; Schlundt et al 2019 ). Correlative network analyses based on 16S rDNA amplicon and metagenomic data indicated that key bacterial genera (e.g.…”

Section: Microbial Communities Of Microplastic Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics provide new microbial niches in aquatic environments

Yang

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2020

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

309

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Microplastics in the biosphere are currently of great environmental concern because of their potential toxicity for aquatic biota and human health and association with pathogenic microbiota. Microplastics can occur in high abundance in all aquatic environments, including oceans, rivers and lakes. Recent findings have highlighted the role of microplastics as important vectors for microorganisms, which can form fully developed biofilms on this artificial substrate. Microplastics therefore provide new microbial niches in the aquatic environment, and the developing biofilms may significantly differ in microbial composition compared to natural free-living or particle-associated microbial populations in the surrounding water. In this article, we discuss the composition and ecological function of the microbial communities found in microplastic biofilms. The potential factors that influence the richness and diversity of such microbial microplastic communities are also evaluated. Microbe-microbe and microbe-substrate interactions in microplastic biofilms have been little studied and are not well understood. Multiomics tools together with morphological, physiological and biochemical analyses should be combined to provide a more comprehensive overview on the ecological role of microplastic biofilms. These new microbial niches have so far unknown consequences for microbial ecology and environmental processes in aquatic ecosystems. More knowledge is required on the microbial community composition of microplastic biofilms and their ecological functions in order to better evaluate consequences for the environment and animal health, including humans, especially since the worldwide abundance of microplastics is predicted to dramatically increase. Key Points • Bacteria are mainly studied in community analyses: fungi are neglected. • Microbial colonization of microplastics depends on substrate, location and time. • Community ecology is a promising approach to investigate microbial colonization. • Biodegradable plastics, and ecological roles of microplastic biofilms, need analysis.

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Section: Microbial Communities Of Microplastic Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microbial Communities Of Microplastic Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics provide new microbial niches in aquatic environments

Yang

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2020

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

309

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…CLASI‐FISH and microbial ecology applications in the Plastisphere demonstrated with samples from the Atlantic Ocean by Schlundt et al. (2020). The application of spectral imaging in FISH improves the number of bacterial groups that can be visualized on plastic marine debris simultaneously, compared with other FISH methods (e.g., CARD‐FISH), and including different levels of taxonomic resolution (above; bacteria represented in colours).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, perhaps one of the most attractive results presented by Schlundt et al. (2020) is the visualization of bacteria and phytoplankton together and across time. Previous scanning electron microscopy on microplastics in the ocean has indicated the importance of diatoms in the early biofouling of the plastic marine debris, but with a low taxonomic resolution for the bacterial groups associated with them (Reisser et al., 2014).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Who is where in the Plastisphere, and why does it matter?

Arias-Andrés

2020

Molecular Ecology Resources

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Complex networks of microbial communities drive the flux of the biologically important elements in marine ecosystems. Hence, it is important to know how plastic litter in the oceans is affecting the ecology of microbes, starting by understanding what is there.Amplicon sequencing results from the Plastisphere-mainly of bacterial 16S rRNA genes-indicate that the surrounding environment largely influences the assemblage of plastic microbial communities (Oberbeckmann, Kreikemeyer, & Labrenz, 2018). However, high relative abundances of Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Cyanobacteria are often reported on microplastics (Reisser et al., 2014;Woodall et al., 2018). In this sense, this issue of Molecular Ecology Resources, Schlundt, Mark Welch, Knochel, Zettler, and Amaral-Zettler (2020) confirm in situ the relatively high abundance of some of these phyla with both combinatorial labelling and spectral imaging -fluorescence in situ hybridization (CLASI-FISH) and amplicon data, on plastic incubated at different locations of the Atlantic Ocean.The results also reveal abundances at a lower taxonomic level, such as the case for Rhodobacteraceae (family). It is noteworthy that the use of (CARD [catalysed reporter deposition]) FISH to visualize bacteria at the genus level on plastics after environmental exposure has been published before (Harrison et al., 2014). In the case of CLASI-FISH, the images show the morphology of the cells and their location within the biofilm using confocal microscopy, spectral imaging and linear unmixing techniques. The method was first presented by Valm, Mark Welch, and Borisy (2012) and allows the use of several fluorophores at the same time (up to seven in this work, for different taxonomic levels) with relatively good separation of background noise. Therefore, the number of taxa analysed simultaneously is an improvement from other FISH methods. Finally, the observations by the authors in the samples from the Atlantic Ocean enable hypothesis-testing regarding colonization of plastic marine debris and the interpretation of amplicon sequencing results for bacteria. For example, is relative abundance of Bacteroidetes in To fully understand how plastic is affecting the ocean, we need to understand how marine life interacts directly with it. Besides their ecological relevance, microbes can affect the distribution, degradation and transfer of plastics to the rest of the marine food web. From amplicon sequencing and scanning electron microscopy, we know that a diverse array of microorganisms rapidly associate with plastic marine debris in the form of biofouling and biofilms, also known as the "Plastisphere." However, observation of multiple microbial interactions in situ, at small spatial scales in the Plastisphere, has been a challenge. In this issue of Molecular Ecology Resources, Schlundt et al. apply the combination labelling and spectral imaging -fluorescence in situ hybridization to study microbial communities on plastic marine debris. The images demonstrate the colocalization o...

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“…This included metatranscriptomics to determine the composition and function of complex microbial communities, specifically as it was applied to blood parasites in birds (Galen et al., 2020; Perspective by Cassin‐Sackett, 2020). Novel methods were highlighted, including a new approach for visualizing microbial communities on marine plastic debris using specialized probes (Schlundt et al, 2019; Perspective by Arias‐Andres, 2020) and improved analyses of polyploids in landscape genomics (Meirmans, 2020; Perspective by Ackiss & Balao, 2020). A comparison of double‐digest RADseq de novo assembly software (LaCava et al., 2020; Perspective by Marrano et al., 2020) was published that assists researchers to navigate across available software programs.…”

Section: Associate Editors and Reviewersmentioning

confidence: 99%